The senior got off to a quick start and ran away from the competition, posting a time of 18 minutes, 22 seconds to win the girls title on the Rockford University campus.

Officials determined that perhaps Willging’s timing chip on her shoe had come off, so they had to look at a recorded video of the race to get her correct time.

“I didn’t even know,” said Willging, who was sidelined with a hip injury at last year’s conference meet. “My strategy was to feel it out in the beginning and have a surge when I had a good chance.”

Freeport coach Alan Greene said Willging came away with a great race.

“She went out and did the things she needed to do, which was to go out and run hard from the very start,” he said. “She was like, ‘It’s been fun running with everybody,’ but I said, ‘No, we’re going to go out and run hard.’”

With her victory, the Pretzels finished fifth with 105 points in the team standings. Last year, they were third. Belvidere North girls repeated as champs with 38 points.

“We had two girls missing from our top seven, so we knew it was going to be tough, but all the girls fought hard,” Greene said. “I’m really proud of them.”